Fear #1: Public Speaking
Fear Level: 5 (1-10 scale)

Monday started extra early with me going to a seminar for social studies educators. I went as a presenter, not as an attendee. So strange to be on the other side considering my degree. I spoke about what my organization has available as resources to the teachers and how we would like to assist them.

It went alright. I was the first speaker after a 15 minute break, so pretty much the whole time I was speaking, people continued to flow in. Unfortunately, I'm sure that will decrease the response we get. Poop.

I wish I would have had more notice about this so that I could have prepared more. I would have put together a power point presentation with pictures. Pictures are always good.

Oh well, I did what I could with little time.

Fear #2: The Dentist
Fear Level: 7.5

I have a great dentist. However, that still does nothing to diminish my fear and apprehension of going to the dentist. To add to the stress of the day, I had an appointment for a cleaning. I won't go into details, but any dental experience terrifies me. In addition to the cleaning, I had to get panoramic (?) x-rays in preparation for my oral surgery in 2 weeks.

I focused on deep breathing and other things, both mentally and physically. While he was working in my mouth I had to consciously think about how my toes felt in my socks or how my hand was resting on my thigh so that I wouldn't concentrate on everything going on in my mouth.

I also worked hard to think about other things. Good standbys are always traveling and entertaining - 2 things I love to think about!

Everything went well - no gagging, unlike the last time. And no cavities! He also said my wisdom teeth are at a good place and that the removal should be no problem at all, hooray!

Fear #3: Coordinating Big, Fancy Work Event
Fear Level: 3.5

I would probably use the word "stress" more so than "fear" for this event. The annual Holiday Open House, or HOH. It drew a crowd of about 125 this year. It's still kind of weird to realize that I was the main person behind the whole event.

The HOH requires no RSVP, so it's always a guessing game to plan the food and beverages. I took my homemade Snowflake Brownies & Winter Wonderland Bars - yum! Folks from our headquarters, including our President, came up from Indy. And people packed the house; actually, "mansion" would be the correct term.

Everyone had a great time, but I'm never able to actually enjoy these events. I actually sat with a plate of food and visited with friends for about 5 minutes. And then I had to go because I felt like a million people were looking for me and that I had a million things to do - the sign-in table, the food table, the drink table, the trash... AND mingling with people! Ugh.

Fear #4: Bat in my Apartment
Fear Level: 9.5

It was almost 10 when I got home. I was exhausted and more than ready to be out of my party dress and into my pajamas! I went straight to my bedroom, unzipped the dress and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. In the reflection of my mirror I saw something flying above my head. I immediately hit the ground. I mustered up enough courage to glance up to see one of my worst fears was happening; it was indeed a bat. My heart was pounding, and my body was tensing. I clung to the ground and made a mad dash for the door, slamming it behind me.

Zipping that dress back up, I knew where I was going - straight to my housemate! Fortunately, he was still up. Unfortunately, he also has a fear of bats, though, not nearly as bad as mine. He brought a shovel and a broom up with him. Surveying the situation from the doorway, with me hiding in the kitchen, he eventually decided he could try to slowly approach the bat (now hanging from my ceiling - seriously I am grossed out just writing those words) and then hit it hard enough with the shovel to at least knock it out for awhile. I had no better idea; I was almost in tears.

After missing the bat like 5 times, he finally got part of it. The bat was down but only for a few seconds and was then flying around like crazy again. Next, it attached itself to my curtain rod. My neighbor came up with a Plan B, but it would require me to be involved to get a large trash bag wrapped around the bat. I knew I couldn't get that close to it.

Out of options, Steve offered to be a barrier (with shovel in hand) between me and the bat while I got pj's, etc. out of the room. He also suggested I call Animal Control.

I tried my brother first but couldn't reach him. I called Animal Control and decided that the situation was indeed an emergency and called their after hours pager. I sat in my living room, trying to distract myself with facebook (of course I had to update my status about the bat!). 20 minutes later, Animal Control called me back and said they would send someone out - hooray!

45 minutes later, they showed up and had the bat removed in under a minute! It was making the nastiest noise, a noise I never knew a bat could make! It was severely pissed. Well, so was I. But glad to have it out of my house!

I slept in my guest bedroom after all that and now get to decontaminate my bedroom.

What a long, strange, stressful day. Wow, what a lot to go through in one day, huh!?